Column: There's no understanding the mysterious ways of cats

Recently, one of our four cats decided she wanted to lie down next to my husband in his easy chair while he read or watched television. This would be an unremarkable development except for the fact that Annie hasn’t wanted anything to do with Paul since we adopted her 11 years ago.

Then again, there’s no explaining cats.

Clara, a tortoiseshell who’s two years older than Annie, has decided she likes hanging out with me once in a while. She even chirps at me sometimes. This is new. She’s always been Paul’s cat — as much as any cat can belong to anyone. Leo enjoys lying in the towel storage rack in the upstairs bathroom. He doesn’t think anyone can see him there — as if we would miss a long black leg extending from a stack of blue terrycloth.

Teddy, our Maine coon, is unusually predictable  for a cat. This may be due to his dog-like personality. For example, when Teddy rolls over on his back and you rub his tummy, he doesn’t clamp onto your hand and draw blood. He just lies there and enjoys it.

Cats have their own mysterious reasons for what they do. Annie has always been reserved. We have sitters come in when we go away. They never see Annie.Teddy and Leo will greet them at the door, and they may get a fleeting glimpse of Clara, but they know Annie only by reputation.

Annie is the gentlest of the four, and not unfriendly. She often follows me around the house. I’ll be changing my clothes and turn around to see her sitting there. Then I’ll go downstairs and start supper and find she’s sitting by the window. She appears when I am meditating in the morning. I rub her a bit, and then tell her I need to meditate, so she lies down a couple of feet away from me.

Several months ago she got into the annoying habit of sitting on my ottoman. I love to have my cats sit on my lap, but none of them do much of that. Annie decided she wanted to sit on my ottoman, on top of my pillow.

Let me explain. When I am in my living room easy chair, I sometimes put a throw pillow on my lap to raise my laptop to a more comfortable height. When I get up, I place the computer on a side table, and the pillow on the hassock. Annie discovered it on the hassock one day and decided that was a fine place to sit. If she came along when I was using the computer on the pillow, she would meow at me and look sad. Paul would tell me I was being mean by keeping the pillow for myself.

So I‘d put the pillow down for her, and sit cross-legged with the computer on my lap. After 20 minutes or so, this would become uncomfortable. So I’d stretch out my legs so my calves and feet rested on the very edge of the ottoman. My ottoman.

Those of you who know cats know exactly what would happen if I jostled the pillow. That’s right, Annie would stalk off with a look of righteous indignation on her little gray face.

And Paul would say, “You are so mean!”

Sometimes, before settling on the pillow, Annie would do this dance of sorts by jumping from the arm of Paul’s chair to mine. She would look at him as if asking for permission to sit with me, even though, at this point, she had never sat with him. I’m assuming she did this because he would put the pillow down for her if I wasn’t sitting in my chair.

I guess, from Annie’s perspective, Paul was a better bet than I was. I might make room for her on my ottoman, but I would inevitably stretch my legs out and infringe on her throne. Paul, on the other hand, always put the pillow out for her if I wasn’t there.

So, after a couple of months of sharing my space, she suddenly decided that lying next to Paul—snug between him and the arm of his chair—was where she wanted to be.

This was clearly a development in her personality. Interesting. Cats can change and grow.

Annie’s new spot put her in the middle of our household activities. We have a Victorian home, with a double living room that is typical of farmhouses of the period. We use the back room as a dining room. We pass through these rooms going from the kitchen to the front stairway, and vice versa. Paul’s study is just off the dining room.

Our two dogs, Aquinnah and Martha, mainly hang out in the living room.

The cats often find other places to be. Fall through spring they can often be found upstairs in the south-facing rooms, where the sunlight is ample. There they can lounge wherever they like, as the dogs are confined downstairs during the day.

At night, the situation is reversed. The dogs go up to our bedroom, and the cats take over the first floor.

Teddy, naturally, doesn’t worry about the dogs. Sometimes he even lies on the floor between my chair and Paul’s. But finding a favorite spot and hunkering down in the thick of canine territory is a stretch for Annie.

Cats are fickle about their spots, and maybe she will tire of this one soon. But I have to give her credit for coming out of her comfort zone to find an even better comfort zone.

Even if I don’t understand how or why she did it.